Kelly Townsend

Kelly Townsend is the editor at Playback, with previous experience in B2B and entertainment journalism. Before joining the Playback team in 2018, she worked in the editorial, marketing and communication departments at B2B publisher Dovetail Communications. She has a bachelor's degree in English from York University and is a graduate of Humber College’s journalism program. Her byline has appeared in IndieWire and she spent several years covering Canadian TV as associate editor of The TV Junkies.

Posts by Kelly Townsend

Schitt’s Creek bests its Emmy record with 15 nominations

The CBC comedy more than tripled its Emmy nominations from 2019, including best comedy, four acting categories and a total of three nods for co-creator Dan Levy.

Pieces of a Woman to world premiere in Venice

The drama, produced by BRON Studios division Little Lamb Productions, will compete in the festival’s main competition, while a Canadian copro joins the Horizons lineup.

Cineflix Rights to distribute French adaptation of U.K. thriller Marcella

Cineflix Media’s U.K. distribution arm holds the format rights to the series and exclusive global rights to the adaptation, produced by French prodco Elephant.

Wynonna Earp created more than $166M in economic output: report

The SEVEN24 Films-produced sci-fi series has created nearly 1,500 jobs over its four seasons and $126.1 million in GDP, according to a study commissioned by the CMPA.

Telefilm reports gains for women directors, losses for producers

The 2019/20 gender parity report shows Telefilm hit the 40% parity zone target for number of projects with women in key creative roles, but none achieved 50% or higher.

Talent House launches boutique agency for drag queens

Founded by Daniel Birnbaum, the drag performance agency represents Canadian drag queens, including stars from Canada’s Drag Race and CBC’s Queens.

Netflix, CMF back Being Black in Canada program expansion

The program will expand to help a total of 90 Black filmmakers between 2020 and 2022 access mentorship and training to film a short documentary on Black lives.

Showrunners on creative concerns for production in a pandemic

U.S. and Canadian showrunners joined the Banff World Media Festival to discuss COVID-19 challenges for the creative team and systemic racism in the industry.

CTV promotes Auntie Jillian to a primetime slot

The unscripted series starring YouTube personality Jillian Danford will hit CTV later this month, after initially airing on Bell Fibe’s TV1 in 2019.

David Byrne’s American Utopia to open TIFF 2020

The concert film directed by Spike Lee will have its world premiere on Sept. 10 at the festival, which plans to run with a hybrid model format of virtual and physical screenings.

Deals: Sinking Ship, WildBrain, eOne

It’s been a hot market for Canadian kids content across the globe as companies ink deals with streamers and broadcasters across multiple continents.

Toronto producer forms Baobab Film Collective with African prodcos

Launched by Cape Verdean and Canadian filmmaker P.J. Marcellino, the collective will produce African-centred dramas for the global market.